


Beneath the Crimson Moon

by PlasticFroggie



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Bad Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Claude and Dimitri working together, Crimson Flower Bad Ending, Dimitri has a kid, Edelgard and Byleth are the bad guys, F/F, F/M, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route Spoilers, Fix-It of Sorts, I have no idea how tagging works lol, Minor Character Death, Post-Canon, Villain Edelgard von Hresvelg, War, other pairings to be decided - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28088682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlasticFroggie/pseuds/PlasticFroggie
Summary: There are only just so many times you can go back in time to fix your mistakes before someone is bound to take notice, and Claude is not called the "Master Tactician" for nothing.After the Battle of Derdriu, CF-Claude finds out about Byleth's power to rewind time, so instead of going home to Almyra straight away, he travels to the Kingdom to meet Dimitri and Rhea, hoping to come up with a countermeasure together and put a stop to the Empire's aggression.AKA a story about Claude, Dimitri and Rhea teaming up against Edelgard and Byleth in Crimson Flower and "how the CF ending goes down in flames, literally" with a sprinkle of "what everyone else is doing while waiting for Edelgard to steamroll them" on the top.
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Marianne von Edmund, Ferdinand von Aegir/Dorothea Arnault, Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Sylvain Jose Gautier, Linhardt von Hevring/Lysithea von Ordelia, Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc/Bernadetta von Varley
Comments: 29
Kudos: 45





	Beneath the Crimson Moon

**Author's Note:**

> A fair bit of warning first, this is a "CF is a bad ending for Fodlan" story and I severely dislike Edelgard. This story is going to show a lot of the ugly consequences ignored in the game and have Claude work with the other students against her and Byleth, so if you are a huge fan of Edelgard and her route, I strongly advise you not to waste your time on this because you won't like how it goes or how she is seen from Claude and Lysithea's perspectives.
> 
> The first part of the story will follow the canon CF plotline, so some of the characters will die as the story progresses (and many will be spared by adaptation because I can't bring myself to kill every last one of them). The only ones I can assure you will survive for now are Claude, Lysithea, Marianne and Felix as the POV will keep rotating between them, so please read at your caution ～(￣▽￣)～

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been 3 days after the Fall of Myrddin. Lysithea proposes an interesting theory regarding the Ashen Demon after listening to the battle report. Claude does research on her idea and comes to a horrifying discovery about their enemy.

**3 Days After the Fall of Myrddin. Evening. The Library in Castle Riegan.**

The private library in Castle Riegan has a rather large collection of stories about Sothis. Claude’s fingers brush against the books sitting on the bookshelves he is standing in front of that record the legends of the goddess as his eyes quickly search for the ones that may contain anything useful - he has been reading up on the goddess’ power the entire evening that he has even postponed supper, and what he has found leads to a conclusion that makes his stomach sink just at the very thought of it.

They say all Riegans have good intuition thanks to their crests and thus their instincts are rarely wrong. Claude likes being right, most of the time, but now he hopes - no, prays, and he doesn’t even believe in the goddess - that he is wrong.

His fingers come to a halt when he sees the title “the Land Beloved by the Goddess” sitting on the shelves. He faintly remembers this book may contain something related to the legend he is thinking of and quickly pulls it out, flipping through the pages hastily in a blind panic as he looks for anything, anything that can prove his insane theory, well, insane. This is already the twentieth book on the legends of the goddess he has read this evening, and all the things mentioned in each of them point to the same maddening conclusion. Still, he keeps looking for something else, anything else. He’s in denial. He knows it, but he keeps looking all the same.

Because he really doesn’t want to believe that Byleth Eisner can rewind time.

* * *

**4 hours ago. 3 Days After the Fall of Myrddin. Afternoon. Claude’s office.**

“It was like the Imperial Army could predict our every movement!” the wounded soldier frantically begins the battle report. Claude’s fingers are gripping the corner of the conference table so tightly that his palm stings as he listens to the report on the Battle of Myrddin by the few surviving members of Judith’s personal guard, desperately resisting the urge to scream in a mix of rage, grief and shock.

Judith is dead.

Judith is dead.

Judith, the woman who vouched for him, always supported him, helped him, guided him, tutored him on Leicester politics, is dead.

Oh, and to add to that, Leonie and Ignatz, two of his few friends he has made over the years, two members of his inner circle that he can always trust and rely on, two people he just laughed and ate with merely weeks ago before Leonie set out to the Empire territory to investigate the mysterious mages working for Edelgard, have been murdered as well.

He has never lost someone close to him. He has no idea how to deal with the pain; he just wants to scream on the top of his lungs and cry in his mother’s arms, and maybe also take Bianca on a flight and just stop thinking at all. It feels like every part of his being is being ripped into pieces and put back again, and it hurts.

Tears mixed with blood that keeps dribbling from the bad slash above his eyebrows spill down his cheeks as the swordmaster continues his report through choked sobs, “Lady Judith tried to retreat as per your orders, but it was as if they knew she had planned that already! They have two battalions stationed at the east gate like they were waiting for us there! We- we tried to retreat through the north gate, and another battalion appeared right on time from nowhere and surrounded us. They also avoided all the traps and ambushes we had planned for them. I don’t understand. I don’t understand at all. That green-haired woman just suddenly told their army to turn around every time they were about to walk into the traps. They avoided all of our soldiers posted to ambush them just like that…”

The other member of Judith’s personal guard quickly takes over and continues the report when her comrade starts to fumble with the bloodstained bandages wrapped around his head - they look very clumsily applied, meaning that they must have been wrapped around his head in haste while they were on the run from Edelgard’s men.

The woman dressed in yellow and black sniper garb rasps out in a broken voice, “and- and- and it's as if they could see the future and know where our reinforcements were coming from. I- I don't understand at all. How- how did they know Miss Leonie and her group of mercenaries were coming? We didn't even know that ourselves! We didn't even know she would be there, let alone the direction they’d be coming from. We only expected Lord Acheron’s troops as reinforcements! None of us had seen the mercenaries marching towards Myrddin, but their commander- that Eisner woman just stopped pursuing Lady Judith all of a sudden, turned around and headed straight towards the west bridge where Miss Leonie was duelling General Caspar and was about to kill him. Even the Emperor hesitated to follow her. None of us understood what was happening. Lady Judith seized the chance and tried to bolt, but we were attacked by their soldiers soon after. We heard someone scream that General Caspar was about to be killed by Miss Leonie, and- and- and we heard their cheers for that mercenary who showed up miraculously from behind Miss Leonie and stabbed her in the back! She was attacked from behind, so Lady Judith tried to go back to help her- How- how did she know Miss Leonie was there fighting one of their generals and about to kill him? She was so young- That woman- she- she just stabbed her in the back and then cut off her head- just- just like that-”

It has become apparent that the two soldiers who have barely escaped death at the Emperor’s hands are close to a mental breakdown. Claude politely dismisses them and asks the guard posted just outside his office to escort them to the infirmary.

Silence lies thick in his office as the reality sinks in for each of them. Claude leans back into his chair, shell-shocked, and quickly lifts up a hand to wipe away the tears when he notices in alarm that there is something wet in his eyes. Hilda is sneezing into a handkerchief on his right, silently weeping; Raphael stares at the table with a hollowed look, the blood in his face drained out; Christopher, Ignatz’ older brother, shoots out of his office the moment the soldiers take their leave, mumbling to them that he needs some space to mourn his baby brother between heartbroken sobs; Lysithea’s distress is scarily visible - her entire body is trembling, and she has been clenching her fists so tightly that her knuckles look awfully white despite her already ghostly pale skin.

Really, Claude blames himself. He painfully regrets not taking actions against the Empire sooner, and never has him been so frustrated over the fact that Nader and his main troops are still locked in fighting in east Almyra with some power-hungry warlords who are still angry over having a foreigner queen and a "half-breed" king-soon-to-be, which means the Almyran main army is not going to reach Fodlan in time as reinforcements for the coming battle.

Raphael breaks the silence with a whisper. “What- What do we do now?” the bulky man says unsurely. “We can't let the Imperial besiege the Alliance just like that. My family will be put in danger once the Imperial Army reaches Derdriu!”

Yes, it will be an absolute disaster for the citizens if Derdriu is to fall under siege by the Empire. Claude has heard many things about what lives are like under the jurisdiction of Edelgard in the past five years, and it resembles nothing but a nightmare pulled straight out from the eternal flames. It sounds like a hell on earth, and he didn’t even believe the hell existed before.

Corpses of peasants starved to death everywhere you look; sick people dying in agony because no one in the village can find a proper doctor to deal with the plagues always following the famine all the time since anyone proficient in the healing crafts have either been persecuted by the Empire for their faith, or have already been called to the frontline in the west as war medics and never to return; frigid bodies found dead in the freezing winter morning because every last of their pennies has been taken by the tax collectors to fund the Emperor’s newest campaign, leaving them scarcely any money left to keep themselves warm and keep a roof over their heads; thousands of merchants-turned-beggars wandering the streets thanks to the entire economy in the Empire crumbling completely; countless orphaned children roaming the cities, scraping for food to barely survive after their parents have all been conscripted against their will to die on the battlefield for Edelgard’s quest to put back the world into what it once was; hundreds of heartbroken faces looking for their missing family who might have already died in monster form during an attempt to take Arianrhod; and rebels who rise against their ruler in a futile attempt to overthrow their tyrannical emperor have their flesh torn apart by the fangs of wild beasts as a form of "execution" every sunday.

Claude refuses to allow any of the citizens living in the Alliance be subjected to the same fate. He must remain calm and come up with counter-measures. He needs to have his head clear to strategise. He doesn't have any time to mourn his dear friends.

But his mind just can’t stop imagining how much pain Judith must have been in when the Ashen Demon mercilessly cut her down, or was it Edelgard with her hideous axe that is neither a sacred weapon nor a Heroes’ Relic, or thinking about what Ignatz was thinking during his last moments, or how long did he suffer before finally losing consciousness, or what Leonie has discovered in her investigation, or how her death heinously parallels Jeralt’s who also died after discovering something in his investigation into the mysterious mages that would later be revealed as Edelgard’s subordinates-

“Enough with the tears!” Lysithea says fiercely, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand before looking at them with a steely resolve. That is enough to stop Claude’s mind from spiralling into a rabbit hole. “The Imperial Army will be on our doorsteps in three weeks to kill us! They have already killed some of our friends and they are now moving to finish the job, but what are we doing here? Sitting around and mopping while Edelgard and her soldiers slaughter and raze their way through our lands? Leonie, Ignatz and Judith have already sacrificed their lives protecting our people, protecting us! As the ones still breathing, still living, we must carry the torch and continue to resist the empire with all our might! The empire has done unspeakable things to my family. Hell would freeze over three times before I ever bow to a Hresvelg! So are we all just going to cry together and wait for Edelgard’s axe to fall, or are we actually going to put up a fight and put a stop to the empire’s reckless aggression once and for all?”

He blinks away the tears that just keep forming in his eyes without anyone noticing and starts with a voice more flustered than he’d like, “it is obvious what we must do now. There is nothing we can do by now but to muster all our strength to repel Edelgard's forces.” He takes a deep breath and clears his throat before he goes on firmly, “for the past five years the Alliance has enjoyed relative peace even in times of a continental war when Edelgard was still largely focused on conquering the Kingdom. Thus, Leicester has only seen skirmishes and minor battles at the borders, but unfortunately, that has changed now. It has become clear that Edelgard is hoping to end the stalemate by conquering the Alliance first. In other words, she will be pooling all her resources into conquering Leicester as quickly as possible, which means we need to prepare for a full-scale, bloody war.”

 _Meaning a lot of them will die pointlessly_ , he notes with a twinge of sadness. “I'll summon all the lords we can reach for a roundtable meeting tomorrow and discuss defence strategies, and we'll also have to start evacuating the city as soon as possible and secure all the reinforcements we can get. I expect Edelgard to send out messengers to most noble houses to threaten a surrender too, so I have no doubt Count Gloucester has already bent his knee now that the Bridge of Myrddin has fallen, but I say we should still try to reason with Lorenz. Most of the Daphnel troops have been decimated defending Myrddin, which means Holst and Margrave Edmund are the lords with enough troops to spare most likely to answer our plea, but it’s likely that will still not be enough with how Edelgard managed to take the Bridge while being outnumbered.”

Hilda nods at him in agreement, holding back a sob before she speaks up softly, “you- you’re right. Myrddin has fallen. They are coming, they are coming. They are going to be at our doorsteps in less than four weeks and we can’t waste any time longer.” She takes in a deep breath and closes her eyes for a moment and when she reopens them, her eyes are shining with a newfound resolve. “We still have to avenge Ignatz and Leonie! We can’t submit to the Flame Emperor, so we have no choice but to fight now!”

Claude flashes her a weak smile and nods at her. On his left, Lysithea is resting her head in her hand, a contemplative look on her face as she muses thoughtfully, “I must say I am utterly puzzled by Edelgard's reasoning; why is she allocating all her resources to invading Leicester now with the famine and all the civilian unrest going on in Adrestia? I'd expect her to focus on consolidating power in her home base before continuing her conquest. The famine in Adrestia has been going on for four years by now. Thousands of her people are still attempting to flee to Leicester and Faerghus every day despite the risk of being caught and executed. While the rebellions have been suppressed, it's obvious Adrestia has already been bled dry by her war. She clearly doesn't have enough resources to support her troops for a full-scale battle on two fronts, so why is she moving to strike at this moment instead of dealing with the internal conflicts in her own empire first?”

 _Because Edelgard obviously still hasn't had her priorities sorted out?_ Claude replies silently. However, he wonders if there are spies among them who have told Edelgard of Dimitri and his plan that they are going to combine their forces and begin pushing back - they have even decided on a date to start their campaign to retake Garreg Mach. All of them, Claude, Dimitri and Rhea, have jointly agreed to start marching their soldiers to the Monastery in the Great Tree Moon and liberate it from Edelgard’s clutches. It was supposed to be the best timing to start their campaign against the Emperor’s aggression.

The affairs in the Kingdom have recently calmed down enough to finally begin a campaign against the Empire and the fightings in east Almyra are about to be over soon, meaning the main Almyran army can, at last, be pulled back to the west and start helping out their cause, not to mention the fact that the rebels in the Empire against the Hresvelg dynasty have been steadily building their strength in the past few years and are finally at a point where they can put up a proper fight.

He’d have acted earlier if he could, but the Alliance alone doesn’t have the military might to properly challenge the Empire on its own: Adrestia has the advantage in number, and Faerghus makes up for their lack of manpower and resources with the fact that their entire population from nobles to commoners are capable fighters who know how to swing a sword, but Leicester has always been weak in terms of military might - the Alliance is known for their burgeoning merchant class and its booming economy, not their army. Edelgard has left them largely intact mostly because she thinks the Alliance led by a “clown” like him cannot properly resist her and she believes all the lords will flock to her side once she has conquered the Kingdom.

 _Which is generally true._ As much as Claude loathes to admit it, the Alliance alone does not pose much of a threat. They rely heavily on the Airmid River, the Oghma Mountains and the Fodlan’s Throat that line their border to protect themselves, which is why the Bridge of Myrddin makes all the difference and is so, so crucial to their defence. Still, it’s useless to dwell on what could have been now.

Claude shrugs. “She's getting desperate,” he reasons. “We know she’s running out of resources to continue her war with the Kingdom and the Church. Her people are starting to turn on her because she has nothing to show for her waste of lives and resources. Hence, I believe she's hoping to secure the resources in the Alliance to fund her war, which means it’s very likely the Imperial army will rely on looting and pillaging to save army supplies-”

“Then we must order an evacuation of civilians as soon as possible! Her vile army will not be allowed to step on the Alliance soil and trample on our people as long as we still stand!” Lysithea cuts him off, outrage bubbling in her voice. Claude stares at her owlishly, surprised by how vehemently she is against the Emperor. “Of course, the best-case scenario would be us successfully stopping Edelgard's advance, but we must account for every possible outcome. I know the Kingdom has been taking in fleeing Adrestian citizens.” She turns to look at Claude and suggests, “perhaps we can ask Dimitri if he's willing to take in the Leicester refugees too.”

Raphael’s face lights up. “Hey, how about we ask the Kingdom and the Church for help?” he asks hopefully. “They are fighting against the Empire too, right? And Marianne is still in Fhirdiad as Dimitri's guest. She can convince him to help. Lady Rhea will also help us too if she asks her, won't she?”

Marianne is currently residing in Fhirdiad under the pretence of negotiating a new trade deal between Edmund and Faerghus and attending the King’s birthday celebration as a representative on behalf of the Alliance. In truth, she is there to act as a secret envoy and broker an official alliance between the Kingdom, the Alliance and the Church on Claude’s behalf. They have already agreed on combining their forces against the Empire and are about to make an official announcement soon, so Claude is rather sure that as about-to-be-official allies Dimitri will send reinforcements without needing much convincing, and Rhea would jump at any chance to kill Byleth and Edelgard if she could.

Which means the question is still whether or not they can make it on time.

Claude sighs, shaking his head. “Unfortunately, most of their troops are still fighting on the western frontline. It'll take at least a month to get here from Arianrhod, meaning they are not gonna be able to arrive in time even if they rush to our aid, but I'm gonna ask anyway.” A playful smirk slides across his lips in a pathetic attempt to lighten up the mood. “Hey, Dimitri’s a bleeding soft heart; he's not gonna stand by and let his former classmates get killed, right?”

But that does give Claude an idea. While it is logistically impossible for the Kingdom's main army to arrive in Derdriu on time, Ingrid’s territory lies relatively much closer to Derdriu and it will only take a week to travel by ship from the newly built port in Galatea to Derdriu. The Galatea Flying Corps are insanely powerful. With their pegasus knights as new reinforcements from Galatea, their forces will be immensely bolstered and Derdriu will be able to hold the line for a much longer time as they wait for the arrival of more reinforcements. Perhaps the Kingdom and the Church can even take advantage of Edelgard’s absence in Garreg Mach in the meantime and sneak in an army to take back the Monastery while the main Imperial forces are still stuck fighting on Alliance soil.

And, if the worst happens and Derdriu falls, they always have the option to retreat to Goneril - Margrave Edmund is feigning neutrality either way so they should have no trouble passing through his territory, especially when his daughter is still residing in Fhirdiad currently - and wait for the main Almyran army to arrive while the Kingdom and Church army retake Garreg Mach. Once Edelgard’s base has been freed from her grasp, they may even be able to attack from both sides and eliminate the Imperial forces in Leicester...

Thank goodness he has stayed in touch with Ingrid over the past five years that the two of them are friendly enough to ask for favours. Hopefully, the newest Captain of the Faerghus Royal Guard is still fond of him enough to help him out...

“I'll write to my family too,” Lysithea offers, “but they probably won't be much of help since our territory has practically been under Imperial control after the Hyrm Rebellion and still hasn’t recovered from that,” she adds regretfully. “I am sorry.”

Claude shakes his head slowly. “No, don't be. I understand your situation, Lysithea. I'm the one who should be sorry for not being able to do anything about it in the last five years,” he reaches out a hand to take hers and says apologetically, “I wish I could have."

The urgency and difficulty of securing reinforcements still sit like a rock in his stomach: House Daphnel’s main troops have been decimated in the Battle of Myrddin; House Ordelia can barely raise any men and supply any resources; House Edmund doesn’t have many troops to spare, and Claude’d prefer the Margrave to feign neutrality; House Goneril has to protect Fodlan’s Locket, and although the invasions have relatively died down after his parents ascended the throne and he became the leader of the Alliance, the Almyran warlords living near Fodlan are extremely unpredictable and so downright crazy that he won’t be surprised if they decide to attack the fortress again for fun; and, to his disgust, Edelgard has been threatening the lords bordering the Airmid River using House Orderlia as an example and now the Empire can actually live up to their thinly-veiled threat promise with the Bridge fallen into Empire hands, so he isn’t going to be able to rely on House Gloucester even though it is obvious none of the Alliance are actually that fond of the Adrestian Emperor - after all, they technically have nothing to gain from siding with her.

“Yeah, don’t fret over that, Lysithea,” Hilda agrees, shrugging. “It’s not like it’d make that much of a difference. Judith’s army stationed at Myrddin outnumbered the Black Eagle Strike Force by three times. I think our defeat at the Bridge has nothing to do with army size.” She tilts her head to the side with a thoughtful look on her face. “Anyway, Edelgard’s campaigns against both the Kingdom and attempts at taking the Bridge in the last five years all ended in crushing defeat. How could she take the Bridge of Myrddin so easily all of a sudden?”

While they did enjoy relative peace compared to the Kingdom in the last five years and was left largely intact, that doesn’t mean Edelgard has truly left them untouched - she had actually tried to take the Bridge of Myrddin with the Black Eagle Strike Force multiple times either by force or bribery. She attempted to make Acheron turn to her side with threats and bribes at first but never succeeded, and tried to gain Count Gloucester and various lords’ support but was always turned away, being told they could not safely declare their support for her until the Bridge was taken and their territories were protected by the Imperial army from Claude.

Claude is pulled out from his thoughts by Raphael’s booming voice. “I'm confused by that too! The Emperor has been trying to take the Bridge for five years by now! How did she so suddenly succeed with even fewer numbers and resources?”

“I have to say I am quite surprised too that Edelgard has managed to take Myrddin with relative ease this time,” Lysithea says thoughtfully. “Judith's forces greatly outnumbered the Black Eagle Strike Force, so something must have turned the tide of the battle there. It’ll be essential to our strategy to learn what it was. Edelgard has suffered nothing but crushing defeat in her attempts at seizing any land in the last five years, and those lands that she does manage to take always get liberated by the Kingdom forces again soon after, so what exactly made the difference this time?”

“The Professor. She's the reason,” Claude says immediately without thinking. “Remember a few days ago when Judith's spy networks told us the Ashen Demon has resurfaced in a village near Garreg Mach and rejoined the Imperial Army? I say she's what made this Battle of Myrddin different from all the past battles.”

“Did the Professor coming back really boost their morale so much that they could win against an army three times their size?” Raphael wonders incredulously.

Claude shakes his head. “No, this is more than simply morale,” he responds, quickly thinking back to all the times they engaged with the Imperial army or the Black Eagle Strike Force and suddenly feeling all the dots are connecting themselves. “I think the Ashen Demon is the one commanding the Black Eagle Strike Force now. This explains everything. It’d make sense why all of Edelgard’s campaigns in the last five years all failed even though they managed to take Garreg Mach with little trouble five years ago. She's always been praised for her 'tactical genius'. I won't be surprised if the Ashen Demon being their brand new tactician made all the difference in the battle."

Raphael frowns, confused. “Eh? I thought Edelgard was the one leading the BESF?”

Hilda rests her chin in her hand, her elbow sitting on the table, and rolls her eyes. “Oh Raphael, that’s just what they say!” she laughs. “We all know the Flame Emperor isn’t above lying to us. Probably has something to do with her public image. Something like ‘nobles shouldn't let commonfolk lead’,” she mockingly raises her arms to make air quotes, “the Imperial nobles have always been much more fixated on such things than the Alliance. Of course Edelgard doesn't want people to know the Emperor's taking orders from a ‘lowly’ mercenary!”

Claude taps his fingers on the wooden table. “Anyway, if we’re following this line of thinking, then it can explain why Edelgard's tactics are suddenly good enough to outwit Judith against all odds,” he adds, the knowledge causing his stomach to sink deeper and deeper. “I remember that the Ashen Demon was also the one who commanded the Black Eagles during the mock battle and the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. Edelgard has never been a great tactician - she makes a far better strategist than a tactician - but the Ashen Demon was always hailed as the "genius tactician who can predict every enemy movement" by the students. She has what it takes to win a battle against all odds.”

Hilda leans back into her chair lazily. “Ugh, but it's still so baffling to me! How did the Professor know Leonie was duelling Caspar while chasing down Judith and Ignatz on the other side of the bridge?” She sits up and points her finger at an area on the map laid out on the conference table. “Look, the Professor's group were obviously too far away to have been able to see Leonie and the mercenaries marching towards where Caspar was stationed. I know the students back at the academy were always gushing over her tactical prowess that’s apparently good enough to make miracles, but knowing the exact moment to disobey the Emperor's order and bolt back to save Caspar plus risk letting Judith get away? That's- that's just too- too-”

“Sounds like it's too much of a miracle?” Claude finishes for her.

“That's the idea,” Hilda agrees, jerking her index finger at him. “For your information, I personally escorted the soldiers to your office. I spoke to Judith’s personal guards as well as the other surviving mercenaries on the way to your office, and they all told me Leonie and her mercenaries didn't even expect to arrive at Myrddin in time as reinforcements! They didn’t even know it’d be attacked - they were just crossing the bridge because Leonie had found some leads on the mysterious mages related to Jeralt's death five years ago in Vestra and was making her way here to tell us about it. Judith's soldiers didn't even know Leonie would arrive, so how did the Professor know that Caspar was being ambushed by Leonie as if she could predict she would be there? I mean, communications during battles are supposed to be messy, and even Edelgard didn’t sound like she knew what the Professor was doing either when she started to run back from what I gathered, so it’s just not possible the Professor got wind of Caspar’s duel with Leonie on the other side of the battlefield and knew she had to go back to save him because someone reported it to her.”

“Um, do you think the Professor might have been able to see the future? Someone like a wayseer?” Raphael says seriously. “Remember how her hair colour changed all of a sudden and everyone was saying she got the goddess' power just like Saint Seiros? Saint Seiros was also a prophet. Maybe the Professor is also a prophet now!” 

Lysithea's brows furrow at the notion as Claude and Hilda chuckle darkly. “Heh, we'd be in big trouble if we're up against someone who could see the future,” he says, scratching his chin. “Still, that's an interesting theory, albeit an unlikely one. The Ashen Demon got attacked by Rhea and fell off a cliff five years ago. She'd have dodged Rhea's slash and knew she shouldn’t stand on that particular part of the cliff if she could predict the future.”

He notices with interest that Lysithea is scowling darkly at the thought with her brows furrowed and is looking increasingly pensive. “I would not be so quick to dismiss any possibility,” she counters. Claude arches an eyebrow at the white-haired girl - she still refuses to tell him what happened to her hair. _Her parents both have dark brown hair! Why is her hair white?_ “I assisted the Black Eagles in several of their missions when we were still at the academy because Edelgard was always trying to recruit me as she did with Mercedes. I've always brushed it off as simply instincts, but the Professor…” Lysithea trails off into a whisper, wrapping her arms around her as if to comfort herself, “it seems to me she can always know when we are in danger. It's like she can always see the enemies hidden trying to ambush us. Somehow, every time one of us was about to be killed, she knew, and she would haul us out of the way.”

That… honestly sounds crazy to him, but intriguing enough. Claude tries to rein in his disbelief and not gape at her, but Hilda and Raphael are already looking at Lysithea like she has sprouted three heads. Lysithea is evidently annoyed by the look they give her. “This may sound unnerving, but it's true!” she says angrily. “We weren't supposed to tell the other classes, but I guess it doesn't matter now.” Lysithea bites her lips uncertainly, “you all remember when we were sent to the Kingdom to deal with a group of bandits hiding in the Conand Tower? Sylvain's brother stole their house's heroes' relic and we were sent to retrieve it,” she turns to him and narrows her eyes in a way not entirely unlike how his mother looks at him when he messes up, causing him to have some really unpleasant flashbacks, “and you kept pestering me for information because of how sick and pale we all looked when we returned.”

“Oh, I remember!” Hilda pipes up. “Ferdinand was on bed rest for an entire week because of his injuries! It was just horrible. I think it's downright the most badly-injured any of our classmates had gotten before the war.”

“Well, Lady Rhea forbade us from telling the others, but Miklan turned into a demonic beast after holding onto the Lance of Ruin for too long.”

“WHAT?” Claude hears the three of them shout at almost the same time.

So THAT's what happened back then? He has been investigating the Heroes' Relics for years, but he has yet to find the books or people that actually answer the question of “what if someone without a crest tries to use one”. The Book of Seiros only says "they are not worthy to wield them" and offers no explanation at all, but never in his wildest imaginations can he come up with that conclusion.

Lysithea ignores their mutual shock and continues, “the Professor explained that if someone without a crest were to wield a Heroes' Relic, they would be turned into a demonic beast. That's the reason that the Church scriptures say only someone with a crest has the right to wield one. I don't think the Professor knew beforehand; she would have warned us before we went into the Tower if she had known. I don't think any of us knew, but for some reason, the Professor ordered us to fall back right before Miklan turned and slashed at the same tiles we had been standing seconds ago.”

“You’ve gotta be joking!” Raphael bursts out. “Sylvain's brother turned into a demonic beast? Honestly, that sounds so scary!”

“Eeeek! Why did no one tell us that before?” Hilda shrieks, visibly shuddering in disgust. “I've always thought they're gross, but you can be turned into a beast by holding one? Ugh, I swear I'm never holding the Freikugel again after this war no matter what my brother says.”

“Please tell me you're joking,” Claude says weakly. “Uhh, just so you know, I practise archery with a heroes' relic every morning in the training grounds. It’d have been nice if you had warned us about it before… No use dwelling on it though.” He shakes his head. That is the true adverse effect of wielding a heroes’ relic without a crest? What else has the Church really been hiding… He will find some way to pressure Rhea into answering all his questions eventually, he silently swears. “Still, sheesh, turning into a demonic beast by it... it sounds more like a horror story to me.”

He tries not to go down that trail of thoughts, but he can’t help thinking if this is what the divine punishment the church scriptures are referring to, then will he also be turned into a monster too if the goddess knows a dirty half-breed like him is wielding a holy relic she gifted to her chosen heroes?

Lysithea’s agitated voice snaps him out of his daydream. “Oh please, it’s not like you have been growing out eyes and scales for using that bow.” She clears her throat. “I’m getting sidetracked. Anyway, I was a part of the rear flank back then, and we were marching to the upper floors in Conand Tower when some thieves suddenly came out from behind a false wall right next to me, Lindhardt and Dorothea. I would have been killed if the Professor didn't get to me and Dorothea on time. Our group had fallen a bit behind and got separated from the other students, but the Professor rushed back towards us right before the bandits could get to us. Then, when we engaged the enemies there, the false wall suddenly crumbled and the Professor pushed me and Lindhardt out of the way right before the wall even showed signs of crumbling! She even hugged me afterwards and said she’d seen me die and made me promise not to be so reckless next time.”

Raphael says uneasily, “maybe the Professor is truly a prophet now! Remember what they said about her after her hair coloured changed? They said she received a revelation and was given some sort of mysterious power in the Sealed Forest, just like Saint Seiros. Lindhardt was also always going on about the Crest of Flames giving you some unknown powers. Do you think it may have to do with her crest?” he asks before answering his own question. “That must be it! I think she can see the future. That must've been how she knew Leonie was there and knew she had to put off chasing down Judith and go back to save Caspar!”

“Oh Raphael, how do you manage to stay so optimistic about this?” Hilda tells the muscular brawler, her voice filled with distress and disbelief. “You do understand if you're right about the Professor's power, we'll all be absolutely doomed?”

But it doesn't really make sense, he thinks. Byleth would have ousted Monica as an imposter months before Jeralt's murder if she could see the future.

“Linhardt... was always trying to investigate its powers five years ago, and he would sometimes tell me about his research when we shared a meal together,” Lysithea adds quietly, crossing her arms and sounding like she is swallowing an entire lime at the mention of her old friend. “The Church says the Crest of Flames is the symbol of the goddess herself. The goddess shared her own power with Nemesis, her chosen champion, to help him defeat the darkness spreading from the north. It’s widely believed by most crest researchers that those who bear the Crest of Flames directly share the power of the goddess. Is it truly that preposterous to think that someone who has been gifted the goddess’ power can predict the future?”

Personally, Claude thinks the Church scriptures are a load of bullshit, but he has always been curious about the mystery of the crests and their powers. It isn’t that far-fetched to believe Byleth has some sort of godly power that helped her survive falling off a cliff when he knows the Crest of Charon grants one the ability to control the weather and summon rain. He also distinctly remembers Dimitri’s Crest of Blaiddyd giving him inhuman strength that likely helped him survive the grave injuries during the ordeal almost a decade ago that was the Tragedy of Duscur. But predicting the future?

As mad as Lysithea’s theory sounds, Claude believes that all stories do have some basis in fact and does consider it something worthy of their attention. He, too, recalls something weird about Byleth back when they were still at the Officers Academy. Back when they were still fighting in the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. Hmm, and there’s also something strange about her choice of words when he approached her after Jeralt’s death - he still can’t believe Byleth is helping Edelgard whom those mysterious mages that killed Jeralt are working for, by the way.

Nonetheless, whether or not he believes Lysithea’s theory about Byleth’s power, her words do remind him of something: he needs to investigate the Ashen Demon’s power to understand their enemy better. It didn’t matter before because she had been absent from the war for half a decade, but now that she has returned - possibly as the Commander of the Black Eagle Strike Force - then he needs to know their enemies thoroughly if he wants any chance of victory.

All that aside, he has a feeling that a tale he once heard from his mother ages ago may have something to do with this. A story about the goddess and time his mother used to tell him and Father as bedtime stories when he was a child. A legend that he knows for sure he has come across multiple times when researching the history and legends of the Church for information on the fascinating power of the crests and relics when he first came to Fodlan. He’s mostly forgotten what the story is about - he doesn’t believe in the goddess and has never been really that interested in her to remember a particular fairy tale about her from a time before the Church was even founded. It’s the crests and the relics and the history of the Church that interest him so much - but somehow, he has a strange instinct telling him that legend may have the answer to the mystery of how the Ashen Demon can seemingly predict the future...

* * *

**Present time. Evening. The Library in Castle Riegan.**

Claude helplessly slides onto the floor with his back against the wooden bookshelf with his arms around himself, shivering despite the warmth of the room. For the first time in many years, he is absolutely terrified. He blows out a long breath and rakes a hand through his hair, staring at the books sprawled out around him.

He feels so anxious at the idea that they are up against an enemy with the goddess’ power to turn back the time that he wants to throw up.

He thinks back to the time when he approached Byleth to ask her to lend him her father's journal. She refused, in the end, but that didn't matter as Claude stole it from her room the very next day. Of course, as someone with basic decency, he tried to offer a few words of condolences before cutting to the point. She said something about how it was a fated death that Jeralt couldn't be saved even if she could turn back the hands of time, that his future had already been decided.

Claude thought it was some Fodlan or Church of Seiros saying - they are always going on about destiny or fate decided by the goddess. He wasn't familiar enough with the Church's teachings back then to notice anything really off about her words, but when he tried to console Marianne after Dorte's death by telling her similar things, he got so thoroughly roasted alive by Hilda for being inconsiderate that he still has vivid flashbacks. He tried to explain to her that he had heard those words from Byleth, but she had just dismissed it, telling him that Byleth was always odd even for her standards.

However...

He’s checked at least over fifty books on the legends surrounding the goddess by now, including various official publications by the Church, and all of them, no matter what their sources are, all of them document the same story his mother once told him in his childhood: long ago, the people started a bloody war in Fodlan for power grabs, and when it finally ended, the land itself had become too scorched to be inhabited. Therefore, the goddess used her power that can turn back the hands of time to restore the ravaged world to the beautiful land it once was. With her power, she reversed the course of the flow of time. Soon, the razed land returned to the fertile soil it once was; wilted flowers could bloom again; frailing old men regained their youth to enjoy a life of peace after having experienced nothing but suffering and violence their entire life.

Moreover, according to the legends, the goddess is called the Beginning precisely because she could turn back the hands of time of the things around her to their beginning, the very same words Byleth once used when she was mourning Jeralt. He also remembers that Sothis is mentioned to have “reversed the course of the flow of time” to save the world in some of Seiros’ tenets, and there is a line in several of the hymns about “wilted flowers in the valleys blooming once more as old men regained their youth thanks to the goddess' power” as well.

Since he can find similar texts pointing to the same conclusion in over fifty different books, all of which have different authors and were written in different time periods, that must mean they do have some truth to it and this goddess Sothis (if she really exists) may really have some power to mess with time itself even if the legend itself was fabricated - after all, all legends have some basis in fact.

Claude knows that the Crest of Charon gives its bearer some sort of power to summon rain and has learned from Hilda how the Crest of Goneril gives you extra stamina, and they do say the Crest of Riegan give its bearers good intuition and excellent eyesight, so it probably isn’t really really that ridiculous to theorise the so-called goddess incarnate turned to darkness does have some amazing godly powers thanks to the Crest of Flames, the very symbol of the goddess and being shared her divine power…

Maybe he has gone crazy under the pressure, but why does it sound to him that Byleth has the power of the goddess to rewind time thanks to the Crest of Flames?

It is mad, but it’s the one explanation that makes the most sense to him. It explains why Byleth can seemingly predict the future - because she’s lived it already; it explains why she said Jeralt’s death was fated since “even turning back the hands of time could not save him” - because she had tried to save him by going back in time and Jeralt still died; and, it explains why she knew when to bolt back and rescue Caspar - because Caspar had already been killed by Leonie at least once.

It also explains why Byleth knew there were thieves hiding behind a false wall in Conand, waiting to ambush Lysithea, why she knew that wall would crumble on them, why years ago during the Battle of the Eagle and Lion she could know the exact places they were hiding, could see him and Hilda attacking her from behind despite them being out of her field of vision and making no sound at all, and would suddenly run away the moment before she was going to defeat the two of them to go back and rescue Edelgard, who was about to be taken down by the Blue Lions when Byleth reached her. On top of all that, Bernadetta and Petra appearing from behind Ignatz and Raphael to save Hubert and Dorothea as if by magic during the battle will also make sense now.

All this mystery will have an answer if the theory Byleth possesses the goddess’ power to turn back time is correct - because she has already lived that possibility and just went back in time to change the outcome.

And if Byleth Eisner has the power to rewind time, then it’s bad news for them all, extremely bad.

After all, how can anyone win against someone with the power of a god on their side? How can they possibly stand any chance of defeating Edelgard? What is there left for them to do other than to give up and watch Edelgard trample their lives without mercy? The gravity of this knowledge sits like a stone in his stomach. He gazes helplessly at the ceiling in contemplation. What hopes do they possibly have against someone who can rewind time? It is hard enough to defend Derdriu from Edelgard’s sizable army alone now that the Bridge of Myrddin is in Imperial hands, given that the Aquatic City was never built for defensive purposes and there is nothing left standing between Edelgard's army and Derdriu, but now, it will be nearly impossible to protect the city from the Emperor if her army is not only comprised of mysterious dark mages who can cast powerful spells not even Lysithea knows and demonic beasts with unimaginable destructive power but also the Ashen Demon with time-controlling powers.

Claude knows this must have something to do with what Rhea did to Byleth when she was an infant; he has read Jeralt’s diary, after all.

Then it’s clear what he must do now - he has to find a way to confirm his suspicions and then go to Fhirdiad to speak to Rhea about this.

She was the one who gave Byleth such abilities. If there is anyone who can remove it, it’s her, and if any of them want any real chance of defeating Edelgard, then they must find a way to strip Byleth of this particular magical ability that lets her cheat in a war.

**Author's Note:**

> I've always been annoyed by how the game cheats Edelgard out of consequences and thought it's really weird that Claude's not working with Dimtri and Rhea in CF when he does ask the Kingdom for help in AM. Then the other day I was having an online discussion on Edelgard and how CF is a bad ending with @ReynaAtTheEnd. We started talking about how her ending will go down in flames and how someone should write a story showing that... and boom! That was how this story was born XD
> 
> Ah, by the way, I really suck at naming so suggestions of a better title are welcome!
> 
> Anyway, it's been years since I wrote anything this long and this is my first story written in English (which is not my native language), so please lemme know if you find any grammar or spelling mistake! _(┐「ε:)_ 
> 
> NEXT CHAPTER: dun dun dun, we're off to the Battle of Derdriu!


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